Of late my husband and I have been delighting in watching our sons' growing relationship. They have finally begun taking joy in each other's company, now playing together regularly and occasionally even tackling tasks together.
A few nights ago my husband and I were sitting down to a late dinner and reminiscing about how far we had come. Our oldest had just turned four with his brother 19-months younger, and I'd been arguing for some time that having kids so close together would eventually pay dividends. As we listened to them frolicking behind their closed bedroom door, it seemed that I had been right.
So David and I lingered over our meals, delighting in the payoff for the years we'd spent keeping the two of them from doing each other great bodily harm.
In their earliest days, the relationship between our sons went something like this:
- CHILD #1 PLAYS WITH TOY
- CHILD #2 OBSERVES CHILD #1 PLAYING WITH TOY
- CHILD #2 VIOLENTLY MUGS CHILD #1 FOR SAID TOY
- TEARS, WAILS OF DESPAIR, AND FLYING FISTS ENSUE
I mean, this happened like 1,000 times a day.
But as we sat listening to our guys giggling together in their room, we felt like we were seeing -- for the first time -- the light at the end of the tunnel.
We finished our meal, cleared the dishes, and realized that we should probably shoo the boys back into their beds as it was getting late.
We opened the door...
...and realized exactly how wrong we had been.
What we'd heard through the door as good-tempered merriment was in fact a duel-pronged campaign of room-destroying terror.
It seemed to have started with some sort of baby powder fight. The air was thick with white clouds and every surface in the room was covered with the stuff. This apparently then whipped them into a clothes-throwing frenzy. The drawers of three dressers were opened and the contents scattered in all directions. Next there seemed to have been some sort of babywipes-tossing competition.
At some point a crayon was found.
Suffice it to say the room was trashed. The gleeful laughter was not, as we thought, the happy sounds of two young brothers enjoying the wonder of each other's newfound company.
Instead it was the sound of them working together to destroy us.
A new chapter begins...
We finished our meal, cleared the dishes, and realized that we should probably shoo the boys back into their beds as it was getting late.
We opened the door...
...and realized exactly how wrong we had been.
What we'd heard through the door as good-tempered merriment was in fact a duel-pronged campaign of room-destroying terror.
It seemed to have started with some sort of baby powder fight. The air was thick with white clouds and every surface in the room was covered with the stuff. This apparently then whipped them into a clothes-throwing frenzy. The drawers of three dressers were opened and the contents scattered in all directions. Next there seemed to have been some sort of babywipes-tossing competition.
At some point a crayon was found.
Actual footage from the crime scene
Instead it was the sound of them working together to destroy us.
A new chapter begins...
